Thank you for being my papa
by Arashi Kazama
Summary: A balto fathers day fic. Takes place in the middle of Balto II: Wolf Quest where our wolf husky hero is in search for his run away daughter, encountering a few friendly and unfriendly faces along the way. and with a help of a cunning trickster, he'll soon find her yet.


"Say I'll help you find your daughter if you help me out of this trap."

"How did you know that I'm looking for my daughter?"

"Because you just told me."

Balto tilted his head, narrowing his eyebrows slightly. "Don't test me." the wolf dog warned.

"Relax, I was only kidding." The fox sighed, ending with a faint chuckle.

"Whats so funny?" the hero of Nome was losing his patience. And the fox could easily tell by the sound of his voice. Something told her that angering him further wouldn't be a good idea.

"Nothing, its just so fun to be me sometimes. Anyway, to answer your question, I saw her pass by here."

Balto perked up, eyes widened "You did? Where? When?"

"Let me finish darling. I was in the woods hiding from a hunter. Then she showed up. I told her I'd distract the human long enough so she could get away. And well, here I am, tied up to this log twig, with this thin rope." the fox groaned remembering her capture. Chewing on the rope as she did so.

"Please don't tell me he's after her!" Balto soon began to panic.

"Don't worry, I pushed the man off the log into the river. He isn't going to bother her any time soon. Or ever for that matter."

"You killed him!"

"I don't know. What if I did?" the fox giggled. The wolf dog could see this newcomer took pleasure in seeing others suffer. Even if they started something. Sure she was just defending herself and his daughter and he was thankful, but to kill another made them no better than they. Then again this is a wild animal standing in front of him. Wild animals kill to survive. But now was not a time for ethics.

"Please tell me where she went?" Balto said trying to change the subject. "Only if you help me. Do we have a deal? Or don't we?" Balto's ears folded back. Listening to that tone of the last sentence made him feel…weird. Could he possibly be attracted to her? _'not now Balto not at a time like this!' _the hero of Nome shook his head. "Alright. But no tricks." moving forward and gripping the rope with his teeth, Balto smoothly slid it off and threw it over the edge of the tree that which supported the two animals.

"Hmm, I think I'll be keeping this, as a souvenir." The fox said taking the thin rope and twirling it around her body. "My daughter." Balto said sternly. "Ok, don't get so uptight baby, just follow me and we should find our way to her in no time."

What did she just call him? This vixen was really testing him. Was this a trick? Something told the wolf husky hybrid to trust the fox.

Elsewhere, in a cave, there laid a female wolf dog. Tired and worn out from running for so long, a whole day straight. Aimlessly going where ever the wind took her. Eventually finding an abandoned cave where she could take shelter from the suns heat and get some deserved rest. In her dreams she would be having strange visions of little field mouse singing to her.

The she wolf's leg twitched. She opened her eyes slowly awakening from her slumber. "Papa?" she groaned weakly followed by a yawn. smacking her lips and rubbed her eyes to get herself awake. "oh that's right," she recalled. She remembered that night, when she and her father argued, yelled, eventually leading to her running away from home. And away from her family.

For now, she was alone. All by herself. In the wild. With little to no experience what so ever. Even instinct won't be able to help her this much. "what was I thinking? How can I survive out here? I'm not a wild animal…am I?" she pondered to herself aloud.

"You can be if you want to." a voice echoed through the cave. "Who's there!" the sudden shock made her instantly jump up in defensive position, scanning the area in search for the owner of the voice. "Relax Hun. It's me." the voice spoke again. This time sounding familiar. "You! You're who I ran into the other day!" Aleu stared into the entrance seeing her standing before her, blocking the exit. "Why did you follow me? Did you take care of that hunter?" the young teenage wolf asked.

"Don't worry, he won't be bothering you anymore. I promise." the fox advanced into the cavern, ending her sentence with a wink making aleu blush. Strutting her way closer to the fellow canine she puffed her chest to reveal more of her body to wolf husky. "I'm not alone though." the blush instantly vanished hearing those words. "what?"

"Your old man found me and well, I made him an offer he couldn't refuse. So he helped me out and I helped him." Aleu backed up, thoughts running through her head. "I gotta get out of here before-,"

"Before what Aleu?" there in front of her, stood strong and proud, Balto. Her father. Staring at her face to face, eye to eye. Her mind was now on fire. She was going to get it now. At first her eyes closed and ears folded back ready to take in her punishment, ready for him to yell at her.

But then she remembered, she returned to stand her ground and take him head on. "Why are you here following me? I told you to leave me alone! I hate you!"

"You don't really mean that Aleu. I know you don't." Balto said calmly. "and I came here because I care. You're my daughter Aleu, and no matter what happens, I love you." he finished with a smile.

"How can you still look at me after everything I've said?" Aleu's eye's soon started to tear up. The teenage wolf tried holding it back, not wanting to show an opening.

"Because I'm your papa, I raised you, cared for you, I picked you up whenever you fell, I carried you, fed you, bathed you, it takes a lot more than knowing the truth than a life time of love and care."

"Well the truth hurts." Aleu huffed looking away. Her tears silently running down her cheeks. Balto however could smell them. "Honey please, its ok to be upset, I understand completely what you're going through. I've been there, and it hurts like hell. But keep in mind that you aren't alone, you've got me, your mother, brothers and sisters, borris, muk and luk and rosie too. Not to mention uncle star, kaltag and nikki, aunt Sylvie and Dixie."

That was it, she couldn't hold them in any longer. The lump in her throat was making her sob harder. "Its not that, I just want a home of my own! For myself! To live my own life! My brothers and sisters, they get a home easily for simply having mom's coat, and I'm to 'wild' simply because I look different?"

Balto walked up to his daughter trying to get eye contact once more, only for her to move away further. Sighing, still facing her back he accepted it. "Aleu, ever since you were little you've acted differently than your siblings. You were more energetic, mischievous, louder, a bit violent at times and on top of all that you were the only one to howl. I never told you this before because I wanted you to know that you weren't different from the others, so your could be accepted. But I couldn't have been more wrong. Everyone is different in their own way, be it on the inside or outside. I kept you in the dark so you wouldn't blame yourself. Now you see it as my fault. But I never asked for you to be the way you are. In fact I couldn't ask for a better one."

He tried to approach his daughter once more. "Aleu, look at me. You've always been my favorite out of all my pups. Not that I don't care for them don't get me wrong I love them to death. But you, you're just like me when I was your age." Balto placed his paw under her chin, raising it up to make eye contact.

The fox while watching, sat and smiled at the scene before her. Not wanting to ruin the moment, but also adding to Balto's speech. "Like father like daughter. We can't change who or what we are. We can only be ourselves. We all have a destiny. Each of us has a different path to follow. Yours aleu, just might be destined for something greater. You probably weren't ment to be given a human, perhaps you could follow your ancestors roots and explore more there."

Aleu opened her bloodshot eyes, gazing at the vixen sitting patiently. Then back to her father. "No matter what, you'll always be my baby. Remember that." he finished pulling her in a soft embrace. Aleu couldn't believe after all this her father still loved her. What did she do to deserve such a gift? Balto, a hero of Nome, proud father of six and loving caring mate of a husky. This dog had a heart of gold. Her train of thought stopped, feeling another paw wrap around her body, both squeezing, tightening the hug, but carefully not to hurt her.

"Papa…I," how could she? What a rotten brat she's been. She now felt guilty for ever spewing the word 'hate' to this one canine that hadn't done a single bad thing to her. "H-how…can I…" she tried saying between sobs.

"How about starting with yourself kiddo? Your pop already knows you didn't mean it." the vixen once again spoke up.

"And I've already forgiven you dear." Balto said closing his eyes, enjoying the warmth of his daughter being so close to his after a long half week. "I was so worried about you, I'm glad you're back in my arms again my darling." he sighed resting her head upon hers.

"Papa I'm…so…so sorry! And I…love you…*sniff* too!" Aleu broke out in an uncontrollable sob, pressing her face into his soft chest, the fur being soaked by her tears. "shhh, don't worry, we'll get through this together. I promise." balto comforted her more, trying to soothe his crying daughter as much as his instincts and abilities knew how. He cooed to her, rocked her back and forth, rubbed her back, petted her head, even sang. "reach for the light, you might touch the sky."

To her, this was new. He had sung her lullabies before but this one was something she hadn't heard of until now. It was, relaxing. Calming, and most of all inspiring. The teenage wolf husky took steady deep breaths and snuggled into her papa's warm soft fur chest. Just like she used to when she was a pup. "I guess I still have a lot of growing up to do huh?" aleu smirked. She could feel her father smiling too. "Like I said, you'll always be my baby. No matter how old you are." Balto whispered in her ear, licking her cheek.

Aleu blushed at the kiss, but she didn't care if the fox was watching. What she wanted now was to share this moment longer with him. He made her feel safe, warm and loved. How could she have felt alone when she had him all along? "Thank you for being there, thank you for being my papa."


End file.
